Digital Dish: Dondria Talks Reinventing Herself and Second Chances

Vixen

Dondria: I will credit that to just growing up, being more mature, owning my newfound sexiness and my fierceness and just being confident. New music as well; more mature music, more sassy music. I don’t want people to be stuck on “little Phatfffat” or the younger Dondria.

Are you grateful for Ms. Phatfffat or is that an era of your life you want people to forget?

Not necessarily– I just want them to appreciate that [Ms. Phatfffat] but have a new respect for this [Dondria Nicole] because I’m definitely grateful for all of that.

How was your hiatus from dropping music?

I never stopped working. I was always in the studio, always writing but you can just say that I was finding myself. When I first got signed, I just kind of followed what everybody said to do- sing that, sing this, wear that and not that I’m not grateful for because it has gotten me to a place but I just got a chance to really get to know who I am. I mean I was pretty sheltered young and I never really had to do or be responsible. I was kind of spoiled like a spoiled brat so having the opportunity to be signed and make music that didn’t help it added to things being handed to me so having a hit single and it not being a hit no more and falling back down to the bottom and looking around like where is all those people, it kind of showed me how to be more responsible, how to manage my money, how to speak up more for myself and just grow up.

Was that reality call what you needed?

I’d definitely say that I needed that on a much lower scale than what other celebrities may experience on a higher one because I think that makes people depressed but I think it happened to me in the right moment. I also think that my time wasn’t necessarily then. I’m grateful for it to have started there but I think that it was supposed to happen later cause I don’t think that I was ready for it.